Pourriez

Pourriez is the second-person plural present conditional form of the French verb pouvoir. It means you could or you would be able to, and is used to express possibility, ability in a hypothetical sense, or to make polite requests. The form corresponds to the stem pourr- plus the conditional endings -iez, yielding vous pourriez as the standard vous form.

Grammatically, pourr- is the irregular stem used for all persons in the present conditional of pouvoir: je pourrais, tu pourrais, il pourrait, nous pourrions, vous pourriez, ils pourraient. The usage of pouvoir in this construction covers both capability in a hypothetical scenario and polite, deferential requests. In formal or polite questions, the inversion form pourriez-vous is common, as in “Pourriez-vous me dire…?”

Usage notes and examples:

- Polite request: Pourriez-vous m’aider, s’il vous plaît? (Could you help me, please?)

- Hypothetical possibility: Avec plus de temps, vous pourriez réussir ce projet. (With more time, you could succeed in this project.)

- Alternative phrasing: Vous pourriez venir demain. (You could come tomorrow.)

Etymology: pouvoir derives from the Latin posse, via Old French poer/pouvoir, evolving into Modern French pouvoir. Pourriez is the present conditional form used specifically with the pronoun vous.